Preventing Darkness
by the musical bender
Summary: James, Albus, and Lily's night just got a whole lot more interesting when they are thrown into the past. They must follow through the Deathly Hallows to prevent another war to break out in their time.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: HI, I'm back and not dead. If you've read my stories before, I took I long break because I was just juggling many things and some of my interests have changed. I'm now writing HP fics instead of ATLA, and this is my first one, so please be kind. I'm also looking for a beta if anyone is interested. Thanks and please enjoy! (and review)**

**Disclaimer: I don't not own Harry Potter at all. All rights should go to their respective owners. **

James Sirus Potter was an interesting boy. Some might say that he was interesting due to his family. He was the eldest son of the famous Harry Potter was not one the public overlooked. Others may say he's interesting due to his likeness of his Uncle Ron. But the thing that he felt made him the most interesting was his constant pursuit for trouble. No matter how many detentions he was given or how many howlers he received, James Potter always found a new and creative way to get into mischievous. That was the exact reason why he was out of bed, after curfew, lurking around the fourth floor corridor.

He had received a package of new Weasley Wizard Wheezes from his uncle earlier that week, and he felt it was his duty to try them out. James knew that this was to be one of his best pranks ever, so he felt he needed to share the love to all the houses. So far he had set up the ones for the Slytherins and Ravenclaws, so the next one was the Hufflepuffs. Glancing down at the Marauder's Map, that his father had given him as a going away present, to check for teachers James silently groaned. No it was not any of his teachers, not even the ancient Filch; it was one of the prefects, the one called Albus Severus Potter. Al had become a prefect just this year due to him turning 15 and it only caused James more trouble. Now instead of just looking out for professors on his pranking outings, he had to look out for his perfect prefect brother. Silently cursing that he was not the brother with the invisibility cloak James backed into the dark wall, hoping that his brother wouldn't notice the 16 year old boy out of bed. Holding his breathe while Al was passing, James thought he had gotten away with it. Only after Al was a good 10ft past James then did he hear, "I know you're there James."

Cursing under his breath, he stepped out of the shadows. "How did you know I was there?" he asked innocently.

"Contrary to what you may believe, you aren't as sneaky as you seem," Albus replied smugly.

"Are you suggesting that I'm not as good as pranking as you?" James said, trying to steer the conversation away from the elephant in the room.

"You know that's not what I suggested. But just so you know I was responsible for Halloween 2019 and…wait that's not even the point, James what are you doing here?"

"I was just getting some water."

"Halfway across the castle," Al asked raising an eyebrow.

"Well, you do know that the Hufflepuff's bathroom have the coldest and best water."

"I thought you had sensitive teeth."

"Damn," James muttered, he had lived with his brother for too long to outsmart him. Well almost. "Fine I give up. If you must not know I was heading over to the Hufflepuff dormitories to….."

"Sorry, didn't catch that last part. " Albus smirked.

"To set up a prank! There are you happy!"

"Very," He replied. "Now, what does this prank involve?"

"I can't tell you. It has to be a surprise," James whined.

"The last time you told me that, Hagrid's blasted ended skwerts were found wreaking havoc on the school. Burning anyone who got in a five foot radius of them."

"Aahh, good times," the older boy said fondly.

"No, it really wasn't. Abby Bones was in the hospital for a weak, with a burn on her entire arm."

"OK, I'll admit maybe that wasn't the safest prank," Al rolled his eyes, "But I can promise you this one is completely harmless. So why don't you just run off on your little prefect way and forget that this even happened."

Al looked exasperated as he often was with his brother. He decided to take another approach, "James, just because I'm your brother, doesn't mean I can let you off when I catch you on prefect duty."

"But Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaal."

"But Jaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaames," he mocked

"C'mon just this one time. I'll totally owe you. Please don't be a fussy prefect like Uncle Percy. Just let me off this one time, "James said, pulling a puppy dog pout.

"That hasn't worked since you were seven," Al responded. James however continued to do this. "Fine," Al said exasperated, "But only if you do my chores for a month when we get back home."

"Deal," James agreed readily, and he continued to look at the map checking for any teachers who wouldn't let him off so easily. Al walked over so he was side by side with his brother.

"And look who comes this way," Al said, noticing the black dot creeping towards them. James panicked for a minute until he saw the elegant label Lily Luna Potter.

"Why is she out here?" James wondered out loud.

Before the former could respond, the girl in question turned the corner and instantly spotted them. "Hi guys!" the cheery third year Gryffindor called out.

Her oldest brother immediately ran over to her and clamped a hand over her mouth. "Keep it down," he hissed. "Do you want us to get us caught by Filch?"

"More like you don't want to get caught," she said, pushing James' hand away, and trying to get the awful taste of it from her mouth. "What are you even doing here?"

"What are you doing here?" James countered. She mumbled an inaudible answer. "Could you repeat that, I couldn't understand," Her older brother asked playfully.

"I was just getting out of detention," she said blushing just as red as her fiery hot hair. Little Lily Potter mirrored her mother as Albus mirrored his dad. In addition to receiving her mom's looks she inherited her temper, along with her dad's stubbornness. Her two brothers learned quickly that whenever she was mad, to stay away. This thirteen year old was not one to be messed with.

Lily trying to change the subject, moved over to her brothers, "What'cha looking at?"

"The Marauder's Map, you've seen it a million times," James said, not paying attention.

"I just wanted to make sure, because Filch is coming towards us," Lily pointed out.

Both James and Al muttered a few choice swear words, and James began to look around for possible ways to escape. He spotted a very old tapestry on the wall that hung from the top to almost the floor. "Here, get behind this," he said panicking because he could now hear footsteps.

He quickly ushered everyone behind it but he quickly realized that there hiding space was quite obvious. James started looking for alternatives and found that there was a door on the wall. He opened it and ran inside indicating for his siblings to follow him into the small space. "No way am I getting in there with you. I don't know when the last time you showered," Al protested.

James groaned and dragged his brother in anyway. His brother still protested but was quickly silenced by a "Shut up! " from Lily.

The trio waited in silence for the footsteps to fade away. James whipped out his wand and lit up the Map just to be sure. He must've found the contents sufficient because he whispered, "Lily, the coast is clear."

Al huffed, "Finally, I never want to be that close to James again."

"HEY," James cried indigently

"Guys," a panicked whisper came from their other sibling, "I can't find the exit."

"Here, let me try," James said from the back.

The sixth year slowly made his way up to the front (with much objection from Albus). He felt all around the beginning of the tunnel, but it was like Lily said, the path was sealed up. James started to panic, but tried to wear a mask of calmness for his younger siblings. He took deep breathes and thought 'what would Dad do'. After a minute of calm thinking, an idea struck him. "Al, shine a light down the other end."

James' suspicions were confirmed. What, he originally thought was a solid wall in the back was an endless passageway. Summoning up his Gryffindor courage he said, "Let's head down that way."

Al looked shocked, "You can't mean down an unknown passage where we have no idea where it leads?"

"Oh, c'mon Al, are you too much of a big baby to go on a tiny adventure."

" No, it's just that I don't think it's a good idea to head down a path in which we don't have the vaguest idea where it goes."

"You've been spending too much time with Aunt Hermione. Besides where's your Gryffindor sense of adventure? Dad did this kind of thing hundreds of times when he was here."

"And nothing ever went wrong," Albus muttered sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

"So, you agree," James said, patting the younger boy's back. "What about you Lily Billy?"

"I'm always up for an adventure!"

"It's decided, now let's get going."

The three siblings started to make their way down the unknown passage. James led with his wand out and lit. Albus followed constantly looking from left to right as if something were to jump out at him. Lily brought up the caboose and kept telling Al to pick up the pace. Cobwebs tangled each of their heads as the time went by. All though James would never admit it, this sort of outing his family and only hoped it wasn't into danger. Not only would his mother kill (or at least have a have a heart attack) if any one of them was to get hurt, he would never forgive himself. James tried to push those thoughts out of his mind while climbing deeper into the now extremely narrow passage. "I bet were almost there," he reassured his younger siblings.

"Are you sure this is a good idea? We've been walking for a long time. Maybe we should turn back?" Lily suggested.

Although the idea tempted him, he said, "How would we get back? It's sealed up, unless you want to blow up a wall and get into a huge amount of trouble. This is probably just like the changing staircases."

They continued to walk like this for quite some time, until James put his foot down and discovered that there was no floor beneath it. Unfortunately, this discovery came a moment too late because he had already started to fall into the pit. On a stroke of luck, James caught a rock that jutted out of the wall, so he was dangling above the endless pit. Lily heard James scream and stopped, but Albus did not react quickly enough and proceeded to fall the same as his brother. When Albus felt like this was the end for him, a strong arm caught him and pulled him back to a rock. He looked over and saw his savoir was his brother and was dangling on the same rock as him. "You ok?" Al whispered.

"Oh, you know just hanging in there," James replied with a smile.

"GUYS!" Lily screamed.

"It's ok Lily, we're fine," Albus replied.

Lily hurried over to the edge and looked down to see both of her brothers still intact. James gave her a small smile. "Lily, I need you to go back and get a professor. Just try to go back the way we came, if you can't get through, try the spell bombarder."

"No, I'm not leaving you two," she replied stubbornly. "Here let me get closer to try a pull you up." Lily inched closer to the edge and both of her siblings yelled, "No!"

"Please Lily, just try and get a teacher. We can hang on," Al pleaded.

"Fine, but if it takes too long, I'm coming straight back."

The red head turned to leave while also trying not to take her eyes off her brothers. Therefore, she ran smack into a stone wall. Lily fell back on her back and rubbed her nose which had collided with the wall. "That definitely was not there before, "she muttered.

"Evert all right up there?" James called feeling the vibrations of her fall.

"Yeah, everything's just great. I just ran straight into a wall."

"Even in a dire situation, Lily never loses that wonderful sense of humor," Al commented.

"Very funny Al," she said forgetting the critical situation for a minute.

She turned back to try to head down the path again, but where there wasn't a wall, there now was. It was if it was slowly creeping towards her, pushing her to the edge and eventually the pit. "The wall's moving," Lily cried in surprise.

James' head shot up as he tried to get a view of Lily, "What do you mean?"

"I mean, where the wall was a foot ago, it is now closer."

James kept muttering, "This is bad, this is so bad."

Albus for once kept his head calm and realized the very possible outcome of her sister falling into the pit with them. He instructed, "Lily, you need to try to destroy the wall with bombarder. It will hopefully blow the wall out, but you need to have a strong footing. It's the only way."

Lily took a deep breathe, bent her knees, spread her feet apart, and yelled, "Bombarder!"

A bright jet came out of her wand and struck the wall dead center. The spell didn't have the desired effects thought. Instead of it blasting through the wall, the spell blaster her back, into the pit.

She screamed, while she fell into the endless pit. Her brothers watched in horror as she came closer to them. Lily out of desperation grabbed both Al and James' legs as she went down. Al hissed in pain when thus additional weight was added. His fingers began to slip as he strained to hold onto the ledge. "James, I don't think I can hold on for much longer, "he whispered.

"C'mon Al, just a bit longer. I'll figure something out. All you have to do is hold on," he said with tears starting to form.

"I'm sorry," Al mouthed.

To his disbelief he saw his only brother fall down into the pit. "Albus!"Lily screeched, now dangling from just James' leg.

James too numb to say anything stared in shock as the form of his brother grew smaller. "James, James?"

Lily's voice snapped him out of his daze. "I'm slipping."

"No, you can't. You have to be strong for mom and dad, ok. Try to climb up my leg.:

Lily did what she was told, but when she was about halfway up his leg her hand slipped. She fumbled for about a minute trying to get a grip. James only looked down to see his second sibling fall. His stomach plummeted when he thought he would never see his family again. It was almost as if his will for life disappeared when he felt his grip slip, and fall the same was as his brother and sister.

**REVIEW PLEASE**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. Why would I write a story here if I did?**

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><p>Albus rolled over to his right side and started to stir. He reached an arm to the left and promptly hit his hand on hard wood. He shot up in pain and mumbled while rubbing his sore hand. Al looked around and noticed he was indeed in a park, in the early morning. He looked around, puzzled, trying to remember exactly how he got onto a bench, in an unknown park, from the safety of Hogwarts. The early morning fog was thinning when the last events hit him. He recalled the long passageway, the cliff, Lily falling and grabbing him, falling into the pit, then nothing. Al had no idea how he got there. Did he die? He thought he could be in heaven. That idea scared him, thinking about how his family would react. Albus had heard his dad had lost many people he loved in the two wizarding wars. He didn't know if his dad could take another death in the family. And whatever happened to James and Lils? Did they get out safely?<p>

One nagging thought did make him doubt his theory of death. If he was indeed in the afterlife, why did his hand still hurt from hitting it on the bench? You can't die in heaven because you already dead, so it seemed logical that you couldn't get hurt either. Tenderly rubbing his hand, Al stood up and started to explore his surroundings. After a few minutes of aimless walking he reached what seemed to be the entrance of the park. "Elmwood Park," was engraved in metal on an arch. The name struck a distant memory of when he was six. His mother used to take James and him here to play. Al swelled in joy. He wasn't dead! Somehow the abyss had just transferred him to London. His home was only a few blocks away. His dad would sort this out, and everything would be fine. Lils and James were fine too. They were probably just in a separate part of London.

With a certain bounce in his step, Al started to make his way home. He had only walked about a block when he got a funny feeling in his stomach, It was the same feeling he had when him and James were about to be caught during a prank. Al discreetly looked behind him and saw a man, a wizard he presumed because he was wearing a long black robe, walking on the nearly deserted street about twenty feet away. Remembering his dad's advice, Albus bent down and pretended to tie his shoes. Sure enough, the man stopped too, in order to keep and even distance between them. He was definitely being followed. Taking in a deep breathe, he continued down the sidewalk. There was no way he could lose the man, without it seeming that Al knew he was following him. He decided to just quicken his pace a bit in hopes he would reach home before the man reached him.

Albus turned the corner and noticed that there were now three men in identical black robes following him. His nervousness taking control he broke out into a small jog. Al glanced behind and saw one man raise a long thin wand. "Shit," he muttered, narrowly missing the incoming spell. He began to run, bur he was also able to reach behind and cry, "Expelliarmus!"

"It's him, it's Potter," Al heard one of the men announce.

A flurry of spells began flying his way. Thanks to the years of growing up in a large family and his small figure, he was able to dodge the spells. Al urged his legs to pump faster. He rounded another corner and managed to lose sight of his pursuers for a minute. This was just enough time for him to dig into his robes and pull out the invisibility cloak. His father had given it to him before he started Hogwarts, just as the Marauder's Map was given to James. His dad has winked and said, "For the times you need to get away from the world and your crazy family."

The middle Potter was very thankful he had received this, because it might have saved his life. This is because the three men in cloaks turned the same corner, they could no longer see Al.

"Where did he go?" one demanded.

"How should I know?" the second responded.

The third only let out a string of curse words. "Come on let's just get back to the post and forget this ever happened," the first said.

"I was this close to 10,000 galleons," the third complained.

10,000 galleons! When was he ever worth that much? He couldn't even think of one person being worth that much. Though still startled by the attack, Albus continued under his cloak to number 12 Grimmauld Place.

A few minutes later he stood in front of 11 and 13 Grimmauld Place. He saw that the street looked much grungier than he could ever remember. Also the houses surrounding his home looked like they needed much repair. Why were his neighbors being so neglectful?

Concentrating on the image of his house, he opened his eyes and 12 Grimmauld Place appeared, nestled in between 11 and 13. Al smiled and ran to the front door. He tapped it with hi wand, then flung it open, but quickly shut it behind him locking the deadbolt and the chain. Breathing heavily he called, "Dad! Mom!"

An ominous voice sounded throughout the hallway, "Severus Snape?"

"Dad, what's that?" Al asked apprehensively.

A cloud of dust was starting to rise up at the other end of the hallway. His tongue began feeling very odd. He soon felt as if he could no longer talk, as if he's tongue was physically preventing it. The figure started to move towards him, but he also noticed three more solid figures standing behind it. He assumed this must be his parents and probably Uncle Ron or Aunt Hermione, and they would get rid of the deadly looking shadow. As the dust cloud started rushed towards him at an alarming rate, all of the events in the past 24 hours started to sink in. He began to scream because of the pit, because of the attack, and now this figure that for some reason his parents weren't trying to stop it. Al tried to block out everything and go to a happy place. He closed his eyes and prepared to get hit, but he only heard, "I didn't kill you."

The hallway became warm again and slowly he opened his eyes. Albus was now pale and fear was written all over his face, "What was that dad? Was that like a new ward? Are we being targeted? What's going on? I just got attacked, and now this?" He started to hyperventilate, but at the same time moved towards his parents for protection. The youngest Potter boy quickly walked down the hallway, but as soon as he saw the faces of his Dad, Aunt Hermione, and Uncle Ron and spell flew from his Dad's wand. Because he was in such a narrow hallway, there was no way to evade the spell. The last conscious thought he had before he blacked out was, _"Why in the world did Aunt Hermione look so young?"_

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><p>A breeze slowly ruffled the long grass over the open field. The mid-August wind floated over the sea of green, not even touching the patch of red nestled in the middle. The unusual patch started to move as the red head sat up. Lily looked around and thought, "Is this heaven?" She stood up and shook the loose grass from her Hogwarts uniform. Lily saw a puff of smoke in the distance. She started walking towards it hoping it would solve her confusion. As she walked through the meadow, she felt that this was not heaven, but reality. The meadow was even somewhat familiar. Her thoughts wandered to her two brothers, and she hoped that they were in places as nice as this. She rounded a hill and a sight warmed her heart. What from a distance was just a puff of smoke was actually her grandparents' house. The crooked home looked like it needed a new coat of paint, but other than that it was all the same. If she was Ottery St. Catchpole, then it meant Al and James were probably ok. She just had to floo home and everything would be ok. Lily broke out into a run at the thought. She saw her Grandma in the window of the kitchen, washing dishes, and called to her, "Grandma, Grandma! It's me, Lily. You'll never believe what happened!"<p>

Lily reached the gate and threw it open. She got a better view of her Grandmother, and she looked younger than she ever remembered her, but that fact didn't bother her at all. She got to the door and moved to open the normally unlocked door, but surprisingly it was locked. Lily assuming that it was just because her Grandma wasn't expecting anyone visiting today. Lily pounded on the door, until it opened very slowly. Mrs. Weasley was standing in the doorframe pointing her wand shakily at Lily. "Who are you, and how did you get past the wards?"

Lily was taken back. "Grandma, it's me, Lily. What wards? What are you talking about?"

Noticing how longer the intruder was, Mrs. Weasley started slowly, " Sweetheart, I think you're confused. I don't have any grandchildren. My oldest son was only married last month."

Lily now looked extremely confused replied, "No, you have 12 grandkids. You were there when I was born. You have to remember."

When Lily was talking, Mrs. Weasley was shaking her head in denial. Lily tried to get a better view of the inside of the Burrow. She caught the sight of warm brown eyes standing in the next room, "See there's mom. Mom!" Lily called.

The pair of eyes stepped forward in curiosity. As she as she did that Molly ordered, "Ginny, stay back."

"Mom, what's going on?" Ginny questioned.

Lily got a better look and what seemed to be her mother's eyes and voice. But it didn't match up with her memory of her mom at all. This person although familiar was in a teenager's body.

It then struck Lily, this is what her mom looked like at 16. She has seen many pictures. But how could it be? Unless, no, it wasn't possible. Lily started shaking and turned pale in disbelief.

Mrs. Weasley started to relax as she saw the youngster become more and more distressed. Her mothering instincts kicked in and asked, "Honey, are you ok?"

Lily's eyes became wide staring at something moving behind Mrs. Weasley. Molly looked over her shoulder quickly to see Fred and George enter the room and come up behind her. She had only turned back when the mysterious girl gave a small shriek and her eyes rolled into her head.

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><p>James continued to fall down the endless pit. He didn't even bother screaming because he knew it was no use. He was a dead man and there was nothing he could do but hope it wouldn't hurt. He thought of his family: his mother's temper, his father's understanding, his little brother's gullibility, and his baby sister's smile. He also thought of his friends: Fred's laughter, Luke's loudness, and Becca's brutal honesty. Knowing the end was coming, he squeezed his eyes shut, bracing for the impact. His entire body felt gravity's pull, and as if it was being pulled through a very small space. But James also noticed something weird. Instead of speeding up, when he was falling, it actually felt as if he was slowing down. He was severely confused by this, but before he could process, his body hit the ground with a loud thud. The impact didn't seem as bad as it could be though.<p>

Scuffling feet and scraping chairs sounded all around him. His body ached too much to sit up and see what was going on. There were many murmurs in the background, so he weakly opened his eyes. James was in a darkly lit room. His brain felt like it would succumb to the darkness it was fighting against any minute; so with his last bit of energy he lifted his head off the floor and saw a man striding towards him. He was dressed in pitch black robes and a large snake was slithering next to him. He had only heard the man say, "Now what do we have here?" when James Sirius Potter passed out.

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><p><strong>Oh, cliffhanger…again. First, thank you everyone who reviewed and put on story alert because it made me motivated to write this chapter. Second, I tend to write slower, therefore the updates are slower. Sorry about that, it is just my writing style. Third, unlike this chapter most chapters will focus on one character (James, Albus, or Lily). For the next one if you want a particular character just leave a review and I'll probably do that one next. Thanks again! And PLEASE REVIEW!<strong>

**Also I'm still looking for a beta if anyone is interested. **


	3. Chapter 3

AN: I do not own Harry Potter or its characters or anything else you recognize. All of it goes to its respective owners.

James woke up with a pounding headache. His body ached all over and when he tried to move a limb it felt like he had taken a hundred year nap. Pushing himself up slowly, he opened his eyes. A cold draft chilled his bones as he looked around. James was in a dark room covered in grime. A moldy smell made him think that this place hadn't been cleaned for quite some because he didn't recognize the space, he started to pace around the room, searching for answers. Why was he here? What has happened last night that has made him go from his comfy warm Gryffindor tower to this miserable place? Racking his brain for answers, James remembered sneaking out at night to play a prank, getting caught by Al and Lily, then the passageway, and the pit! He couldn't be at the bottom of it, he could jump and touch the ceiling. James walked over to one side and felt for a door. He tried rattling it to open, but it remained locked.

Running a hand through his hair, he began pacing again. 'Think James , think. Where could I possibly be? Where are Al and Lily?' He was trapped in a small dank room with no way out. Reaching a hand into his pocket, he found his wand was no longer there. Cursing that he hadn't listened to his father about not keeping his wand in the back of his jeans, he sunk to the floor in defeat. He was in an unknown place, defenseless, and had no plans of escape. Hugging his knees to conserve heat, he heard distant footsteps. Lifting his head, the door opened.

James immediately stood up and asked, "Who are you? Why am I here?"

The figure only stayed silent and flicked his wand. Tight cords attacked and bound James' hands. His Gryffindor mentality made him futilely struggle against the restraints, and only stopped when he realized his wrists had begun to bled. The masked man walked behind James and pushed him forward.

The pair walked out of the cell and through a hallway with numerous cells lining the way. James tried to catch a flash of raven or fire hair in these cells. He hopped that even if he didn't know where his siblings were, that they weren't in this miserable place. Luckily for him he didn't see anything as they started to climb the stairs. Though it didn't solve the mystery of where his siblings were, he was relieved all the same.

The pair stopped in front of a pair of enormous gothic paused as the man behind seemed to nervously shift. Standing up straighter, he propelled James into the adjacent room. It was dimly lit and the room was grandly oderned. A long table sat in the middle of the room and there sat many similarly dressed men and women. At the head of the table sat a figure with his hood up and when he glanced up to see the disturbance red eyes glared into James' face.

"What did he look like?" James questioned. He was thirteen and was spending a sunny day out with his father at the local market. They were buying food for his Grandmother for the upcoming feast that night.

"Who?" Harry lightly asked, picking up a head of lettuce.

"You know, You-Know-How?"

"I don't know who you're talking about" Harry replied smirking.

James rolled his eyes. His dad had always been very persistent of having his children say Voldemort instead of You-Know-How. He would usually quote Dumbledore when they forgot. James usually remember, but being at Hogwarts for the year where everybody would flinch if he said the name, had gotten himself out of the habit.

"You know, Voldemort?"

"Ah him," Harry paused thoughtfully now examining a bunch of radishes. His father had hardly ever failed to answer a question that his children had for him, saying that he knew what it was like to be in the dark, and never wanted his children to feel that way. "Scary, very much like a snake, his eyes were unnaturally red. It was hard to see the human part of him most the time. I had to remind myself most of the time. But I guess in the end he wasn't very human anymore. Why do you ask by the way?"

James shrugged his shoulders, "Just curious I guess."

"C'mon let's finish this shopping, and get back and see if your grandmother will let us have some treacle tart before dinner."

James' eyes lit up in delight, sharing his father's obsession with treacle tart, the previous conversation had been almost forgotten.

The man that sat before him matched his dad's description perfectly. He was much scarier though. He didn't even match the Voldemort that sometimes appeared in his worst nightmares, taunting James and his family.

If this was Voldemort, something big had happened . He couldn't have been brought back to life again. His father has reassured his children there was no way for Voldemort to come back to life. The only other possibility was that he had somehow traveled back in time after falling through that pit. The very thought frightened him, he was now in some time of one of the two wizarding wars. Al and Lily were lost there too. He can't imagine especially how Lily would handle it being so young. Al, he knew could take care of himself better, but still needed support. Right now he wished he could be anywhere but here, not only because of his siblings but because he was currently in front of the darkest wizard in history. "Well, " Voldemort finally spoke. " It seems that we have a young visitor. Tell me what is your name?"

James, still in shock, tried to figure out what to say or even how to talk now. "It seems as if our visitor is a little tongue tied," Voldemort laughed. "Let me guess," he said getting up and approaching James, who had stood up shakily. "Your stature shows that you are definitely not a pureblood," James eyes narrowed for a minute."Maybe a Gryffindor by your reaction don't greatly resemble any light family though," now circling James, appraising him. James had never felt more of a relief than ever that he wasn't an exact copy of his mom or especially his dad than that moment. Thanking Merlin that he was a Potter-Weasley hybrid, Voldemort continued with his guessing game. "Maybe a mudblood then?"

James was able to shake his head no, ignoring the insult, because he knew his life would depend on it. "Ah, so not a mudblood then or so you say," he said. "You know I love a puzzle, but I no longer have the time. What is your name, boy?"

The Potter son tried racking his brain for a neutral name of someone that had gone to school with his Mom. Cursing he could only come up with girl names, he decided the best option was to stay silent. "Won't answer boy, stubborn aren't you? Well we have other ways to find out. Nott fetch me some parchment."

A man seated from the table scrambled up, looking foolish, trying to find some parchment before his master cursed him for incompetence. Running to You-Know-Who he bowed on one knee and offered the parchment obediently saying, "My lord."

Voldemort took the paper and pointed his wand and muttered, "Revelare unum idetitatem." He then waved his wand which cut James' ropes and James started to reflexively stretch his arms and hands, but Voldemort caught one of his wrists. Knowing something bad would happen, he tried to wiggle his way out of the skeleton grip, but it only resulted in the almost cutting off of his circulation. Waving his wand again, a cut appeared on his finger, and it was forced to drip onto the parchment.

Where the blood had dropped, black ink started to form. His full name appeared with his birthdate and soon a family tree began to form, with only his parents names leading off from his. James gasped but was thankful his brother's and sister's names did not appear. Voldemort was staring at the parchment in shock but then looked up at James' face and studied it very closely. It was enough to make anyone squirm. "Yes now I see the family resemblance, very interesting, very interesting indeed. My friends it seems that we are in the presence of a time traveler. And not just anyone, the son of the boy-who-lived, Harry Potter himself."

Immediate whispering broke out in the room, discussing the new revelation. Voldemort raised his hand and the room fell silent. "This is a grand opportunity that has arisen. We all know Golden Potter would never have a child in the middle of the war, so that means," Voldemort glanced back down at the parchment," by 2005 I will have been defeated. But time travel is a funny thing. One thing changes and everything else does. So I intend to learn from our visitor what exactly was my supposed downfall. That way I will not make the mistakes of my future self, and I will be the one to defeat pesty Potter."

James nervously gulped. Was it true that if his dad never defeated Voldemort that the whole future could change. He and his siblings could cease to exist!

"Now tell me all you know about my supposed downfall," Voldemort demanded, looking at James Sirius Potter as if he had just become his most valuable weapon.

AN: So I'm really sorry that I haven't posted for a while and I sort of left you with another cliffhanger. I won't be able to update before May 7th again but expect another chapter around mid May hopefully. Reviews mean so much to me and I just become giddy whenever I see one. Also, I would like to know if I should write about Lily of Albus next. After that it will go sort of in a cycle.


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I don't not own anything that you recognize here. I'm merely a fan of the Harry Potter series. **

Albus Severus Potter woke up in a very different place than his brother. Instead of a dark damp cell, he was in a dimly lit room. There was a long table that took up most of the space, while dusty cabinets hugged the walls. It looked like it hadn't been touched for a long time. Al could see plates and long wooden spoons hanging from the wall, so he guessed he might be in a very old kitchen.

The young boy had woken up in the corner of the room so he had a decent view of it. Al was sitting in a straight backed wooden chair. Trying to get up and explore where he was, he found he couldn't because his wrists were tied behind him to the chair. Al wiggled around urging the ropes to magically fall off, but he had no such luck. Instead, he just tried to get in a more comfortable position, since he had no idea when he would get out of it. Albus was surprised at how calm he felt. He knew that he should be panicking and screaming for his brother, sister, parents, anybody. But this room felt a bit familiar, which comforted him greatly. He continued to sit like this looking around for something he could use to break free.

After about ten minutes, he had gotten an inch closer to the knife all the way across the room. But then, he started to hear voices coming for the other side of the only door in the room. The teenager froze. The door swung open and a tall ginger walked in. He seemed to be talking to others outside of the room, "I can't remember if you packed the Ancient Runes book or not. You could've packed the whole Chudley Cannons team in that bag and I wouldn't know."

The older teenager stopped short when he saw that Al was staring right at him fearfully and very clearly awake. "Harry, Hermione!" he called, "The kid's awake!"

"What!" a feminine voice shrieked. "What do you mean?"

"I mean the kids awake, staring right at me."

"But, the spell isn't suppose to wear out for another 3 hours."

"Well, apparently it wore off early, can you guys come in here? The kid's freaking me out."

Albus had stayed silent for the whole bizarre exchange. He had tensed up when he heard the names Harry and Hermione. They couldn't be his dad and aunt. It was just a coincidence. The boy standing in front of him couldn't be his Uncle Ron, could he? He was much too young. Unless somehow, his parents had de-aged somehow. Two other people entered the kitchen. The young woman had bushy brown hair that looked like it could never be tamed, just like his Aunt Hermione's. But the other boy, he had messy raven hair, green eyes and glasses, and lastly Al looked at his forehead and saw what looked like a thin scar under his bangs, that matched his father's.

These people before him definitely resembled his dad, aunt, and uncle. But, it couldn't possibly be them. Why would they be so young? The more important question would be why would they keep him tied up to the chair like this? His dad had sworn never to hurt him. Why would he be treated like a criminal? What could it be? An idea struck him but seemed too crazy to actually be real. But, there was no other solutions. He must have gone back into the past before him, or even James was born. That would be the only thing that would explain why his father was pointing his wand threatening at him. Lily and James must be around here somewhere too. They must be here. He couldn't imagine his siblings being lost in time. What if he never saw them again? He felt like he couldn't breathe anymore, there were too many thoughts racing around in his mind.

Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger were looking at the strange boy with worry. His eyes were shifting to each of them and their wands pointed at him as a precaution. Harry noticed the boy was almost on the verge of a panic attack. "What should we do?" Ron whispered as if not to disturb the boy.

"I don't know," replied Harry, "Maybe we should try and break him out of this spell."

"Kid," Ron nudged Al. "Hey kid, snap out of it."

The boy's head snapped up and he started to calm down, taking deeper and slower breaths. When he seemed as if he had calmed down enough, Hermione ventured, "Who are you?"

"I am friend," Al replied quickly.

"Ok then, but what is your name?" his father prodded.

Al gulped dreading the question, knowing that the question would shock the group. He took a deep breath and said, "My name is Albus Potter," carefully omitting his middle name knowing that his father didn't have especially great views on Severus Snape when he was younger.

He looked up at the group to see that his uncle was looking at him with confusion, aunt with curiosity, and his dad just in distrust. Looking directly at Harry he elaborated, "I'm your son, from the future, I think. What is the date anyway?"

Hermione recovered first and answered, "August 4, 1997."

"Definitely from the future then, I think about almost 25 years," Al reassured the group.

"Bloody Hell, you're Harry's son and from the future, is that even possible?"

Al opened his mouth to reply but Hermione cut him off. "Well there've been instances with dysfunctioning time turners of going back a few weeks. But never that many years."

"I don't trust him," Harry stated plainly.

Albus noticed that his father unlike Hermione and Ron hadn't lowered his wand yet. He was staring at him coldly. This was because Harry couldn't believe that he actually had a son, who just happened to come from the future, in the middle of a war. Like Hermione had said, time travel was not possible this far back. It was probably some ploy by Voldemort.

Hermione and Ron looked at Harry strangely. Ron said, "What do you mean you don't trust him? He's your son!"

"C'mon Ron look at this logically. My son from 25 years in the future somehow travels back in time and just stumbles upon his father who is currently the most wanted wizard in Britain. I mean look at the odds."

Hermione was swayed by the argument and said, "I guess you're right Harry. It seems too unlikely."

"But I'm your son," Albus exclaimed. "I wouldn't lie about this! You have to believe me."

"We can't trust anyone. Not even one who claims to be my son. Hermione, we going to have to oblivate him and let him go."

Ron reluctantly nodded his head in agreement.

"Wait," Al tried to plead again. "What if I prove that I am your son."

"Why don't we at least give him a chance, Harry. If he really is your son, then you wouldn't want to cast him out," said Ron.

Harry thought about this for a moment letting Albus sweat over the upcoming decision. He nodded in agreement with Ron and then Hermione turned to Harry and asked, "What do you think would be a good question?"

Harry pondered this for a long while, starting to talk but barely getting a word out before shutting his mouth again. Finally he decided, "What was I put on trial for?"

Al looked stunned, "Wait, you were on trial. You never told me that. When was it?"

"See Ron, he doesn't even know that. I definitely would've told my kids kids that."

"C'mon that's a hard one try another one."

"Wait, I've got it," Hermione cried out. "What was the name of the hippogriff that Harry and I helped Sirius escape on? You would've told you kids all about Sirius."

"Wait, I know this one, just give me a second," Al said. Now what was it now. It was something to do with feathers "It was Ruffles, wasn't it?"

"That isn't even close," Harry said exasperated. "If he can't even get that, I don't think he's my son."

"I guess you're right," Hermione reluctantly agreed. She started to raise her wand as to obliviate him.

"No," Al cried. "I'm your son, please don't do this. Let me prove it."

"You already had two chances," Harry replied.

"Please, let me think," Al paused for a minute and an idea struck him. "Before I went off to Hogwarts for my first year, James, my brother, kept telling me I was going to be in Slytherin when I really didn't want to be. But, you told me that for you the sorting hat took your desires' into account and if I really didn't want to be in Slytherin I could tell it so, like you did when you were my age."

Harry looked stunned but then, his facial expression softened when he realized that Al was telling the truth. Ron and Hermione were staring at Harry looking for his reaction to signal that it was ok. Al's Dad stumbled back into the chair behind him and put his head between his knees. "I have a son," he kept repeating.

Al was very relieved that his father finally believed him. His dad would never let any harm come to him so everything would be ok. They could find James and Lily and somehow work out how to get back home. Aunt Hermione had a solution for everything so it shouldn't be a problem.

Ron broke Harry out of his trance by saying, "Mate, I think you missed something. Albus said something about having him a brother."

"Two sons!" Harry cried in disbelief.

"And I sort of have a sister too. Her name is Lily," Al interjected.

"Three kids!" Harry groaned. "Wait, who is your mother?"

"Ummmm...Ginny Weasley," he replied tentatively.

"Ginny, you finally get back together with my sister," Ron said.

"Well obviously, considering he had three kids with her, Ron," said Hermione.

"I marry Ginny, and have three kids," Harry repeated. "I never really thought about getting married and having kids and all that stuff with the war going on and everything," he paused, "Does that mean...does that mean that You-Know-Who is gone?"

"Yes, yes he is. I know that you three helped defeat him" Al replied.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked like they were the happiest people on the planet right then. Ron gave a shout of joy, Hermione was beaming, and Harry looked so relieved. "It really does work out for the better," He said.

"Wait, I just thought of something," cried out Hermione. "Al could tell us what happened and then we would be able to defeat You-Know-Who and then we can do everything, but much faster then I bet we did in Albus' world."

"Blimey, I bet we could save a bunch of lives doing this," said Ron.

"So, what do you say? Do you really think you could help us?" His father asked.

Al hesitated for a minute. He wasn't sure how to break it to his father. He looked so much happier, and hopeful once he was told Voldemort was gone. He always hated disappointing his father. He better say it as plainly as he could. "I would really like to help you guys...I really would but, I was never told what happened... I don't know how you guys defeated You-Know-Who."

**AN: Thanks for reading. Hopefully by mid June there will be another update. I'm really sorry that it will be so long but I have finals and the day after they finish I'll be going away for a week. Please review it just makes me smile when I see a review. Also I could still use a beta if any would be willing. **


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